(April 30, 2015 at 11:25 pm)Polaris Wrote: The issue is how can you know that the God of the Bible has been accurately portrayed?

Even with an assumption that the concept of the Biblical God is mythology, how can anyone know for certain the current text is anywhere indicative of the views of God from the OT era say 3,500 years ago?

Great questions. Go here and ask them again: https://www.freeonlinemirror.com/

I can't, but fortunately I don't need to.  All I need to do is show that the God hypothesis is untenable.  As this has been done, I feel perfectly comfortable in discarding the notion.

Boru

(April 30, 2015 at 10:15 pm)Polaris Wrote: If there is an atheist who says they can scientifically disprove the existence of God, they are being dishonest.

In order to disprove god, a scientist would have to test him. Any test he/she set up would cause Christians to scream that they are being persecuted because it is against their religion to 'test god'

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Quote:[url=https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+4%3A5-7&version=ESV]Matthew 4:5-7 ESV / 32 helpful votes

Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, “‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and “‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’” Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’”

We can do a test that weeds out the placebo effect. Pick some children dying of an incurable disease. There should be three largish groups. Unknown to the children in group A, very devout Christians are praying for their recovery. Group A can not be told that anyone is praying for them.  The children in group B come from nonreligious homes and no one is praying for them.  Group C is just for comparison. If prayer works, the children in group A should have better outcomes than the kids in the other two groups.

Yep, it should be easy to create such a test and if people really believe in the power of prayer they would be forthcoming. So far all tests have failed to confirm any benefit.

(April 30, 2015 at 11:25 pm)Polaris Wrote: The issue is how can you know that the God of the Bible has been accurately portrayed?

Even with an assumption that the concept of the Biblical God is mythology, how can anyone know for certain the current text is anywhere indicative of the views of God from the OT era say 3,500 years ago?

So if I point out that the God of the Bible can't exist, let's say because Genesis is false regarding the creation of the universe, your solution to the dilemma is to claim that the Genesis account is inaccurate? Essentially what you're arguing is that the God of the Bible is real because the definitive text providing knowledge about this character is known to be flawed. I don't think you get how this works.

(April 30, 2015 at 7:51 pm)Lek Wrote: He used men to write the bible and it was written the way people would write in those days.  I guess that's the way he wanted to do it.  I think he wanted us to do some work, and also to rely on his guidance.

An omnipotent god could guide the hands of those writers if he so desired in order to compose a perfect message not liable to misunderstanding.

We are left to wonder whether he was incapable of composing a perfect message that could not be misconstrued ... or whether he doesn't exist at all.

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(April 30, 2015 at 11:25 pm)Polaris Wrote: The issue is how can you know that the God of the Bible has been accurately portrayed?

Even with an assumption that the concept of the Biblical God is mythology, how can anyone know for certain the current text is anywhere indicative of the views of God from the OT era say 3,500 years ago?

Which then prompts the following question: if the Bible is inaccurate about its most important character, what reason does anyone have to lend it credence on any other matters?

It's funny, watching two believers distance themselves from their own holy book.

(May 1, 2015 at 7:35 am)robvalue Wrote: Yep, it should be easy to create such a test and if people really believe in the power of prayer they would be forthcoming. So far all tests have failed to confirm any benefit.

You are saying it the nice way.  It already has been proven that prayer does not work, and therefore the God of such prayer does not exist. That is, the description, that those believers give of their God, is a description of something that does not exist.

So, to answer the opening post, not only can it be done, it already has been done.

The fact that some people believe anyway means nothing.  There are still people who believe the earth is flat (just do a search for "flat earth society").  Evidence, reason, and proofs do not always stop people from believing drivel that they want to believe.

(April 30, 2015 at 11:02 pm)Polaris Wrote: I don't give a shit. Only weak little shits like yourself like to use that quote. Man the fuck up.

The words of Jesus, according to Matthew 5:


38 Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth:

39 But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.

Jesus said those words.  Do you follow him or not?  If you don't follow him then you're not a christian.

Religion in general is imperfect and outdated; used to control the masses in the face of distress or suffering. What's more is that the only evidence that exists for these gods is the text that is sponsored by the specific religion (Christians especially). How can anyone look at any 'holy' text and logically make the decision to follow that particular god blindly?